DESCRIPTIONI have always had an interest in politics, especially American politics. The American democratic system fosters the world's most interesting election every four years.

SPECIAL PLACEWashington, DC was where I had a fascinating internship in the US Senate in 2007 and was able to observe the process of policy-making hands-on. I interned at Senator Chuck Hagel's office (currently the Secretary of Defence) and had the privilege of attending many fascinating meetings.

GOALS FOR THE FUTUREI hope to enter public service in the more distant future - in my 50s most probably. I firmly believe it is the most noble of callings and allows for the greatest change in society to happen.

(2007) I met Barack Obama during my internship at the US Senate. He was a Senator from Illinois at the time.

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

DESCRIPTIONI have always been interested in creating and building things. Since I started working at Google this has been even more true - once I learned coding, my abilities to create and make a difference have grown. I have built my first website at the age of 12 and ever since I have had fun doing it. Currently I am exploring the benefits of intrapreneurship by building multiple useful tools inside Google.

SPECIAL PLACESan Francisco is a special place for many reasons, but most importantly, as a global technology hub, it has opened my eyes to the potential of technology and the ease with which change can happen.

GOALS FOR THE FUTUREI hope to create my own company within the next few years - I believe all that I have learned so far will lead me to that moment in which I will be able to, as Steve Jobs famously said, "connect the dots".

(2013) In Mountain View at the Google HQ. This is where I've spent 1.5 years helping analyze our global customers and improving our business.

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LISBON, PORTUGAL

LEADERSHIP

DESCRIPTIONDuring my studies I have placed a big emphasis on leadership, understanding it and practicing it in various student organizations. I understood the importance of getting out of your comfort zone, putting your needs behind the needs of others and looking at the big picture while balancing people's satisfaction and the focus on the goal.

SPECIAL PLACEDuring my time at Warsaw School of Economics I got truly interested in politics and student politics. After a while I became Vice President of our Students' Union and had the highest support in my class for three years in a row. A few years later while studying at CEMS I was also elected Vice President of the Global Student Board - I participated in a total of 6 meetings with 27 representatives, each from a different country. Lisbon was the place of one of our meetings.

(2012) At one of the global student board meetings. If I were to define "global leadership", leading a global student organization would probably cut it.

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WROCLAW, POLAND

HARD WORK

DESCRIPTIONThroughout my life I have been taught many things by my parents, but the one that stuck most with me is the importance of hard work. There is no other way to success than working your way to the top and cutting corners is simply a short-term strategy. As cliche as it is, "no pain, no gain" is a reality, especially in today's economy which makes success look so easy and encourages so many young entrereneurs to start their ventures.

SPECIAL PLACEWroclaw is a special place, because that's where I grew up and was taught the importance of hard work. My high school at the time was the best in Poland and even though it's been over 10 years since I graduated, I still consider that time to be when I was working the hardest - tough classes and extremely demanding teachers were an amazing (though often sleepless) lesson in life. Although I wasn't great in history (picture) I managed to prove my teacher wrong by getting a 100% score on my history exam to college. How did I do it? Half a year of daily preparation for the exams.

(2004) Shortly before graduation from high school, posing with classmates and our history teacher, whom I had to prove wrong to get into college.

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JAPAN

DEDICATION TO EXCELLENCE

DESCRIPTIONI have a huge attention to detail and am known to spend additional hours taking a product / presentation I'm working on from 99% good to 100% good. Perfection is a dream, but excellence can be achieved and I thrive doing my best to achieve it.

SPECIAL PLACEI love to travel and my most recent trip was to Japan where I was blown away by the dedication to excellence that the Japanese present. The country runs better than a Swiss watch and the people's desire to contribute to the society with truly excellent services and products makes it a unique experience.

(2014) The cherry blossoms are beautiful, but it is thanks to the Japanese attention to detail that they are planted in places that enhance the beauty.

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NORTH KOREA

COMMUNITY

DESCRIPTIONDuring my time in the Students' Union I came to understand the importance of a well-functioning community and as such I started giving back to the society through my service. I have also started organizing fund-raisers, with my biggest success being helping the Global Student Board collect over 50,000 Euro to build a school in Africa.

SPECIAL PLACEI went with my friend to North Korea in September 2011 and what I have seen was heartbreaking. After the trip I decided to do whatever I could to help and I started cooperating with a non-profit organization called LiNK (Liberty in North Korea). Since then I have organized three fundraisers for LiNK, helped them build up their online presence through online advertising and had meaningful conversations with their representatives.

GOALS FOR THE FUTUREI hope to continue my involvement with the North Korean cause. It is an issue I came to care about deeply.

(2011) A trip to North Korea, during which I understood more about the country's situation. It led me to organize multiple fundraisers.

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LONDON, ON, CANADA

EDUCATION

DESCRIPTIONIn my education I've put emphasis on international experience and making sure that I'd be exposed to various cultures and points of view. It all started with me being sent to a summer camp in London at the age of 11. Then at college I was able to truly spread my wings by getting involved in various international activities. Overall I have so far studied and/or worked in 8 countries - Poland, United States, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Singapore, Czech Republic, Austria.

SPECIAL PLACELondon, Ontario is a special place as I have attended the Richard Ivey School of Business over there in the Spring semester of 2008. I found the format of their classes to be truly beneficial - case discussions facilitated by the professor with nearly every single person contributing to the discussion. It was a unique experience to not only try to solve the problem presented in the case, but also listen to over 50 different opinions in the span of an hour and a half.

GOALS FOR THE FUTUREI hope to get an MBA in the near future to further my business education and put what I've learned at Google in a broader perspective.

(2008) My name tag right before starting another day at Ivey Business School - we had a very productive case discussion.

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CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE

CURIOSITY

DESCRIPTION"Stay hungry, stay foolish" as Steve Jobs said. Curiosity led me to many places, led me on many adventures and led me (frequently) outside my comfort zone. I often get laughed at by friends as I start exploring the full spectrum of information about an issue we just started talking about - typically happens when we're out seeing a movie and I'm very interested in the context.

SPECIAL PLACEIn 2010 I went to Chernobyl as I was simply curious to see a completely abandoned town and understand the effects of radiation on nature. I came back with a bit of a grim conclusion - despite being exposed to the huge amounts of radiation nature was flourishing in Chernobyl. Why? Due to lack of human activity.

(2010) A trip to Chernobyl with my friends. Curiosity often leads me to bizarre places, but I found that it's ALWAYS worth it.

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SINGAPORE

CREATIVITY

DESCRIPTIONI have created my first website at the age of 12 and at the same time started playing with Photoshop and other tools. I loved creating things, be it websites or Lego models. Later on I started thinking about the potential to expand one's creativity - I believe that it's simply the sum of all of your experiences and as such I love to travel and get exposed to new places, ideas and cultures.

SPECIAL PLACESingapore is a special place because it's where I am currently living and where I see enormous creative potential. Asia is the place to be in these modern times and Singapore is where all the Western talent is moving. It is also where together with my team we won the Cathay Motion Picture Awards with our movie "Sole Sisters".

GOALS FOR THE FUTUREI hope to expand on my creativity, potentially by building more sites (be it internal at Google or external). I cannot wait to start up my own company when I will be at my best in terms of finding creative solutions to problems.

(2012) My first trip to Singapore, during which I couldn't believe what an amazing country it was. I vowed to come back and now I live here.

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DUBLIN, IRELAND

KNOWLEDGE

DESCRIPTIONA quest for knowledge and new experiences is something that has always been a part of me. The reason I like travelling is because of gathering new experiences. This website wouldn't be possible without a hunger for knowledge which concluded with me self-learning coding in the beginning of 2012.

SPECIAL PLACEIreland is a special place because it's here where I started my job at Google and started seeing the true benefits of a good education. It is here where I truly started appreciating all that I have learned so far and understood that there is much more to be learned.

GOALS FOR THE FUTUREI will keep learning no matter what. Currently I am learning various alphabets, trying to understand the meaning behind Chinese signs, Japanese alphabets and weird Burmese twisted letters. I also hope to learn more about mobile app development soon.

(2012) Me and my friends from Google on another adventure to understand Ireland better.

TOM ZACHARSKI - A JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Politics

Entrepreneurship

Leadership

Hard Work

Excellence

Community

Education

Curiosity

Creativity

Knowledge

INSTRUCTIONS

Click on a red dot to reveala new theme from my life

A green dot means you havealready visited this theme

Dear Reader,

Thank you for visiting my site and for taking an interest in me and my life.

I have created this site to show you my life journey in the form of ten themes that are very important to me. These themes define who I am, how I think and how I act. Since I am a global citizen each one of them has occurred in a different place on the planet.

As you navigate through the site please click on the red dots and enjoy a short description of each one of the themes. I hope you enjoy the experience!